Consumers and merchants can use a number of different payment mechanisms. For example, a consumer may have a contact chip credit card and a magnetic stripe debit card, each belonging to a different credit card association (CCA). This can cause problems for both to the consumer and the merchant as sometimes the merchant does not support the payment type (i.e., CCA) or payment format (e.g., contact chip, magnetic stripe) of the consumer's payment device. If the merchant does not use a particular payment device held by the consumer in a transaction, then the consumer may not be able to complete the transaction. Additionally, in some cases, it is not apparent what forms of payment a merchant accepts until the consumer actually interacts with that merchant. Furthermore, countries such as Canada only allow the use of only one type of payment transaction (e.g., only chip type transactions) and it is difficult if not impossible to use other types of payment mechanisms (or form factors) in such countries.
Also, consumers can also carry many other types of financial devices such as loyalty devices (e.g., a loyalty card). Consumers are often burdened with carrying too many financial devices.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems, individually and collectively.